Written Answers

Monday 28 August 2000

Scottish Executive

Flooding

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it keeps comparative statistics on major flooding incidents throughout Scotland and, if so, whether it will publish details for each of the last ten years for which figures are available and whether there is any national monitoring conducted centrally of such incidents.

Sarah Boyack: Statistics on flooding incidents are not held centrally and therefore the details requested are not available.

  Whilst national monitoring is not undertaken, the Flood Prevention (Scotland) Act 1961, as amended in 1997, placed a duty on local authorities to publish biennial reports on flooding and flood prevention measures. These reports are required to include all incidents of flooding of land (other than agricultural land) in their area.

  To date, I understand that all bar three local authorities have published their second biennial report as required by the 1961 Act. Of those which have not yet complied with their statutory duty to publish a report, Highland Council and Stirling Council are looking to publish their reports after the summer. No information has been received from the remaining authority, Falkirk Council, about their plans to publish their second report.

Health

Ben Wallace (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how much money was allocated in 1998-99, 1999-2000 and 2000-01 and what is the projected allocation for 2001-02 to health boards, the Clinical Standards Board for Scotland, the Health Education Board for Scotland, the National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting for Scotland, the Scottish Ambulance Service, the Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education and the State Hospital.

Susan Deacon: The information for 1998-99, 1999-2000 and 2000-01 is as follows:

  





1998-99
£000 


1999-2000
£000 


2000-01
£000 




Health Boards 


3,775,129 


4,176,722 


4,239,962 




Clinical Standards Board for Scotland1


- 


1,959 


3,000 




Health Education Board for Scotland 


7,305 


7,759 


7,770 




National Board for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting for 
Scotland 


3,026 


3,036 


3,079 




Scottish Ambulance Service2


- 


92,493 


94,917 




Scottish Council for Postgraduate Medical and Dental Education 


123,086 


132,198 


138,139 




State Hospital3


18,495 


19,698 


19,070 




  Notes:

  1. The Clinical Standards Board was only established on 1 April 1999.

  2. The Scottish Ambulance Service was an NHS Trust in 1998-99 and therefore received its resources through contracts with Health Boards and other NHS Trusts.

  3. Allocations for 1998-99 and 1999-2000 included funding for an additional ward. Discussions are still ongoing with the State Hospital regarding the level of funding for the additional ward in 2000-01.

  Actual allocations for 2001-02 have yet to be determined.

Police

Alex Johnstone (North-East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any concerns regarding the funding of policing in the Turriff area and whether it will intervene to ensure that the Turriff area benefits from additional resources being made available to Grampian Police.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive has not received any representations about funding for the policing of the Turriff area. Decisions on the deployment of police officers and other resources are for chief constables in consultation with their police boards. The Scottish Executive has no locus to intervene in such matters.

Renewable Energy

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-4084 by Sarah Boyack on 1 February 2000, what progress has been made in achieving the targets for the proportion of energy used in Scotland that should come from renewable sources.

Sarah Boyack: Consultation on this issue was included in the wider Scottish Climate Change Programme consultation, which concluded on 2 June. I am now considering the responses received and will make a statement in due course.

Renewable Energy

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has had any discussions with HM Government about the production of guidelines for energy distributors requiring them to provide network access arrangements at reasonable cost for producers of energy in Scotland from renewable sources.

Sarah Boyack: This is primarily a matter for the industry regulator and therefore is a reserved matter. In view of the importance placed by both the UK Government and the Scottish Executive in the promotion of renewable energy, the Department of Trade and Industry last year published a consultation paper containing proposals to facilitate access to distribution networks by all embedded generation including renewables. A DTI/Ofgem Working Group involving all the industry interests is now considering these issues for England and Wales. The Scottish Executive is represented on that working group and is consulting Ofgem’s Scottish Office with a view to developing a Scottish solution to these issues. In the meantime, as part of its review of Scottish electricity trading arrangements, Ofgem has proposed changes to generator connection charges.

Tourism

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Deputy Minister with responsibility for tourism intends to visit Moffat when he is in Dumfries & Galloway on 23 August 2000.

Henry McLeish: The Deputy Minister has no plans to do so.

Transport

David Mundell (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress it has made in setting up the Transport Advisory Group announced in March, to advise it on the transport needs of people with disabilities.

Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive is currently consulting disability groups and transport bodies about the group’s remit and membership. Once all the responses have been considered the Scottish Ministers will make an announcement.

Water

Karen Gillon (Clydesdale) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the position is with respect to designations under the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive in Scotland.

Sarah Boyack: The Scottish Executive has decided to withdraw the designation of nine High Natural Dispersion Areas around the Scottish coast, as set out in the table below. This means that water authorities will provide secondary treatment at all discharges to coastal waters in these locations for communities with population equivalents of greater than 10,000. Where discharges are to estuarial waters, water authorities will provide secondary treatment for communities with population equivalents greater than 2,000. This is a significant step to further improving the quality of Scottish coastal and estuarial waters, including bathing waters.

  List of High Natural Dispersion Areas to be Withdrawn

  


Water Authority Area 


Name of Designation 




East 


Eyemouth 




North 


Cromarty Firth* 




North 


Thurso Bay 




North 


Wick Bay 




West 


Campbeltown Loch 




West 


Clyde Coast, Girvan 




West 


Inner Firth of Clyde* 




West 


Inner Solway Firth* 




West 


Oban Bay 




  * Estuarial water. In accordance with the requirements of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive the estuary of the River Ythan will be designated as a "sensitive area" as its waters are or in the near future may become eutrophic. This will require tertiary treatment (phosphorus and/or nitrogen removal) at qualifying discharges within the river catchment. Earlier this year I designated the catchment of the River Ythan as a Nitrate Vulnerable Zone also on the basis that the estuary was or in the near future may become eutrophic.